A final ride on the old subs...in 1999

Greetings from a longtime lurker. ;) I was inspired to post this after reading the entry on the old Submarine Voyage over on Yesterland.

Seeing as the accepted wisdom is that the old Submarine Voyage closed for good back in 1998, I don't expect anyone here to believe my story, unless you were one of the lucky guests or CM's who were there.

It was July, 1999. I was living with my aunt and uncle and their two teenage daughters while I did an internship with a Hollywood post-production company. My uncle's best friend was dying of cancer, so it was a very stressful time for the whole family, and my cousins needed something to take their minds off things. The girls decided they wanted to spend a Saturday at Disneyland and, being a lifelong Disney fan myself, thought that that was an excellent idea.

We headed to the park early that morning, talking about the fun we'd have that day and what rides we wanted to ride. Of course, I knew we wouldn't be riding the subs, given that they had been closed the previous year, and it was uncertain whether they would ever open again.

Imagine our surprise when, late that morning, we discovered people were lining up to ride the subs! We quickly got in line and, after somewhat of a wait, found ourselves voyaging beneath the "sea"! I savored every moment of that ride, hopeful that this might be a sign that it would re-open for good, but knowing that it could very well be our final Submarine Voyage.

Of course, I have no documentation of this, and have never seen anything on the web talking about the brief moment when the subs were re-opened. I'm just wondering if there's anybody else out there reading this who was lucky enough to ride the subs after they were "officially" closed?

Nope! But I wish I could remember riding!

That would have made anyone really happy to be able to ride something after it was closed. I am sure you were overjoyed. I believe you, because I could see Disney do something like that. I wish I was old enough to have actually been around when they had the subs. Sounds like they were somewhat fun. I guess I will have to go down sometime and try the new Nemo subs.

perhaps it twas it's last time open....

most of the time attractions go into seasonal AKA they run them every so often if they need to...

then shut them down after that period...
(Time keeper, horizons, and many others...)

you were lucky... to bad you didn't have a new video camera and taped it...

The impression I got from overhearing some of the other guests' conversations was that they were doing some sort of experiment, and that the subs had also been opened briefly the previous day. Of course (and this is wild speculation on my part) they could have been trying to alleviate the 3 hour line for the Rocket Rods.

As for video...I had decided that I didn't feel like lugging around my somewhat bulky hi8 cam all day. D'OH!!!

Very interesting, I never knew they did this. You are very lucky!

You are lucky! I recall riding the SV every time I would go ... I still don't know how I feel about the Nemo thing though, but I'm anxious to find out.

Very cool, I had my last ride the weekend it closed. We made a special trip over and rode 3 or 4 times. What a weekend. Hope you had fun, I didn't realize they did that kind of thing. To bad you didn't get any pictures or video to show us. Oh well. Here is a picture of the special shirts they had on hand for the official closing. Anyone else have one of these. Disneyland price tag still on the shirt, never worn:

http://www.infx.com/micechat/SubShirt.jpg

Woohoo, still have the original receipt too.......

Hey, neat t-shirt! :bow: *jealous*

Love The Shirt!

That's an amazing story. Congratulations on your very unique Disney memory. I so miss the submarines. What a great attraction!

Anyone who would think it should be closed forever should be banished to selling cheap jeans at retail.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by matman730

As for video...I had decided that I didn't feel like lugging around my somewhat bulky hi8 cam all day. D'OH!!!

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I understand! We got to ride the Lilly Belle on Columbus day and I didn't feel like carrying the camera or the video camera, what a dumb decision!!!!!

The last official day of operation for Disneyland's Submarine Voyage was September 8, 1998. Beginning September 9, 1998, the ride was officially closed. It was in newspapers and

For a look at the Subs' last day, see "Sail Away, The Last Voyages of the Disneyland Submarines" at http://www.perry.com/disney/subs/subs.html

I have never previously read any reports of the ride being reopened for one or more days in July 1999. I'm not saying it would have been impossible—but there was no such news on the Internet, nor in the Orange County Register, nor in the L.A. Times. The attraction was not listed on Disneyland guide maps in 1999.

The good news is that the Submarines really are returning in 2007.

Well, that's good news. I will be able to ride them afterward.:)

The opening of the subs that day was definitely not announced, and it came as a huge surprise. I don't think the ride was opened for more than a few hours, but I'm not certain. I've always found it odd that I've never seen any mention of it anywhere, given that this is the sort of event that would have generated a lot of buzz in this community . The only thing I can think of is that nobody who was savvy enough to have posted about it at the time (I certainly wasn't) happened to be there when it happened...though it seems unlikely.

Looking back at the calendar, I'm pretty sure it was July 24, 1999 when I rode the subs, if that helps any.